Practical Facilities Tips, News & Advice.
What’s one major piece of advice that Marshall MacFarlane, an industry veteran and celebrated IFMA Fellow, would give to both new and established facilities managers? Make sure to network. According to him, building a support system could be “career-changing.” MacFarlane currently serves as a facilities senior project manager at Bell Bank, the largest family- and […]
A facilities manager (FM) is expected to wear a lot of hats, from operations manager to strategic planner and technical expert to human resources leader. With so many spinning plates, it’s unsurprising that a recent study found that some FMs and staff have left or considered leaving their jobs. This isn’t just about hard work; […]
After years of promise, 2025 is poised to be the year artificial intelligence (AI) finally delivers real, measurable impact in facilities management. Now that AI is becoming more common, building supervisors can utilize it as a practical and essential tool to manage buildings more efficiently, sustainably, and intelligently. Facilities leaders today face intensifying pressure: rising […]
The talent and labor shortage in facilities management (FM) is a top concern today, as shown in the National Fire Protection Association’s Industry Trends Survey and ManpowerGroup’s 2025 Global Talent Shortage Survey. In ManpowerGroup’s survey of 40,413 employers across major industries in 42 countries, 74% of global employers said they are struggling to find the skilled […]
As facilities managers tasked with balancing energy efficiency and security, you’ll find that artificial intelligence (AI) offers powerful tools to streamline operations, cut costs, and enhance resilience. Here are proven, practical strategies to harness AI for smarter energy management while bolstering facility security and control. 1. Predictive Maintenance for HVAC and Equipment One of the […]
Commercial buildings and infrastructure are responsible for a staggering 40% of global carbon emissions, a figure that puts facilities managers on the front lines of the climate challenge. While the buzz around artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, has captured headlines, the real transformative power for commercial facilities lies in another category of AI: predictive and […]
For decades, facilities managers (FMs) have been the unsung heroes of commercial and retail buildings, ensuring comfort, safety, and operational continuity behind the scenes. However, as the built environment faces the mounting pressures of rising energy costs, ambitious sustainability goals, and the challenge of “doing more with less,” the FM role is undergoing a deep […]
Industry-wide demand is mounting to rethink how we create energy-efficient, comfortable, and smart buildings. More facilities managers are turning to technology to help create smart building systems that use real-time data to adjust temperature and lighting, monitor air quality, and other maintenance controls. The market for Internet of Things (IoT) platforms is expected to hit […]
There is no such thing as perfect, airtight security. This is a hard truth that facilities managers have to accept. Any security setup is going to have gaps somewhere. Our job is to minimize those gaps to reduce the odds of a malicious actor slipping through and help keep the facility safe amidst a rising […]
With growing infrastructure demands and tighter budgets, traditional reactive strategies in facilities management often result in unplanned downtime and expensive breakdowns. A Deloitte study found that predictive maintenance—which includes strategies that anticipate problems before they occur, reducing costs and increasing efficiency—can result in up to 15% reduction in downtime and up to 20% improvement in […]